Chapter VI (2)

Blow after blow continued to fall upon the imperial cause. Gustavus at Mayence was practically the master of Europe, the Spanish fleet had been defeated off Flanders. Tilly was utterly crushed and killed at Ingolstadt, and a revolt had broken out in Spanish Sicily against the new taxes of Olivares. Worst of all, when the minister decreed that the salt tax should be levied in the autonomous Basque provinces, the assembly there flatly refused to pay it. Olivares blustered that he would send 30,000 soldiers to make them. "We will await their coming," replied the assembly, "with 3000 and beat them."[35] And so gradually the policy of Olivares, which kept Spain at war with Europe for a barren idea, was leading the outer realms of the Peninsula itself towards rebellion, a thing unheard of for generations, because of their fear that they too were marked out by the minister to undergo the same fate as unhappy Castile.

[Sidenote: Olivares and England]

In the midst of all his difficulties at home and abroad, the consummate skill with which Olivares played upon the English statesmen is almost amusing at this distance of time. Hopton's spirits rose and fell from week to week, as those of Anstruther did in Vienna. Olivares and the Emperor understood each other perfectly, and had no difficulty between them in keeping England quiet with the old bait of the restoration of the Palatinate. A specimen from Hopton's letters will illustrate the clever way in which Olivares beguiled his interlocutor.

"In the time my memorial was in debate {250} I sometimes took occasion to see the Conde (_i.e._ Olivares). On one it happened that the _Ave Maria_ bell rang, and when he had ended his prayer he examined me in all the material points of our religion, wherein, I perceive, he is not ignorant. In the sacrament of baptism I said all the essential parts are the same in both Churches. But, he said, here they say, 'O! he was christened by a minister; but I (Olivares) tell them that I see no cause why a man may not as well be saved being christened by a minister as by a priest.' This was in the palace, on the occasion of the christening of our Princess, of whom they have begun to talk of as theirs.[36] When the Duke of Lennox went to kiss the Prince's hand, the Countess of Olivares, who was present, bade the Prince ask for his cousin's hand, and said, 'You have a mistress there; and then, turning to us, she said, 'We are beginning to _galantear_ (_i.e._ to court) already.' He (Olivares) examined me upon the Lord's supper, and was much pleased to know the chiefest difference is in the manner of the presence. He asked me concerning divorces, and approved of the practice of confession, though, he said, that it was too lightly practised amongst them. Did we, he asked, receive the blessed Virgin? I said he who did so was not considered a good Christian. He said, 'The top of the difference is the Pope's supremacy, and the chiefest scruple was in temporalities, because you would not have him meddle in matters of Kings.' I said yes; whereupon he shook his head and said no more. I know his meaning, as {251} things stand between him and the Pope. He said that if that point could be agreed I think it would not be hard to reconcile Protestants to the Church."[37]

All this talk about marriage and reconciliation in religion had done duty only ten years before; but apparently the English diplomatists were as ready as ever to follow the Will o' the Wisp until the time of danger for Spain had passed and they could safely be shelved. The young Duke of Lennox was flattered and treated with almost royal honours, and Hopton himself was quite confused by the sustained amiability of Olivares. But at length even he began to doubt; and presented a strongly worded memorial to Philip, calling upon him to have the Palatinate restored. After inordinate delay the reply to this was simply another promise to instruct the Spanish ambassador with the Emperor to urge the matter again upon him. In very truth this eternal shuttlecock between Vienna and Madrid was growing stale again; and the English Government did now, when it was too late, what it should have done at first, namely, talk of preparations for war. But it was only talk; and though it frightened Olivares for a week or two, Hopton deplored that the preparations were not being made a good earnest to fight; "for this is the only way to bring Spain to reason, and they themselves are making preparations for a big war."

In fact it was quite evident now to everyone that unless Spain promptly withdrew her pretensions a great war to the death would have to be fought with France. Her troops in the Emperor's {252} armies had never ceased in Central Europe to meet in combat those of Louis XIII., but the impending resumption of rule by Spain over Catholic Flanders was an event that again threatened the integrity of France itself; for with Spanish frontiers, north, south, and east of her, the old position that had led to the great wars between Charles V. and Francis I. in the previous century would be repeated; and the new France which had arisen under Henry IV., and had been strengthened by Richelieu, would never suffer without a struggle a return to the old state of affairs. Money, constant, never-ending money, was the first desideratum of King Philip, if such a war as that foreshadowed, in addition to the struggle in Germany, was to be undertaken. The outer realms, and especially Portugal, were in a condition of sulky apprehension; but Philip was forced to meet the legislatures before he could get money from them. It was a necessity that he and Olivares dreaded and hated, but it had to be faced. All the Cortes therefore were summoned. "All to get money for their great engagements: how great they are they know not themselves," wrote Hopton.

[Sidenote: The need for money]

But money had to be got somehow, even before the Cortes could meet or King go to his eastern realms. All the taxes had been anticipated, the loan-mongers had run dry, and the silver from the indies had not arrived. Writing in February 1632, Hopton says; "They have levied heavy contributions on the tradesmen of Madrid,[38] but they {253} press them not hard yet, trying mild means first, and then passing to violent. However, they spare not those who are known to be moneyed men; for they have sent to the Duke of Bejar for 100,000 ducats, and to the Duke of Medina Sidonia, and others in proportion. It will be a very great sum in all, but will be needed for the war next summer." Cardinal Borgia contributed 50,000 crowns, and nobles, merchants, and churchmen were squeezed as they had never been squeezed before, even in the time of Lerma.[39] In the Cortes of Castile (February 1632) a spirited protest for once was made, representing the poverty of the country, and saying that it was unjust to impoverish the land in order to send vast sums of money to the Emperor for a war useless to Spain.[40] But, as usual, the deputies, who were bribed heavily, ended in voting despairingly what was asked; and after taking the oath of allegiance, as has already been described, to Prince Baltasar Carlos in the Church of St. Geronimo, they were promptly dismissed.

[Sidenote: The two Infantes]

The journey of the King to Aragon was an {254} anxious matter. Olivares had complicated the situation by aiding Marie de Medici and Gaston Duke of Orleans in their armed revolt against the government of Richelieu, to the openly expressed fury of the people of Madrid, who hated disloyalty to a King, even if he were King of France; and the rumour prevailed that in revenge for the action of Olivares a French army was preparing to invade Catalonia and carry the war into Spain itself. The risk and danger of the King's journey were urged upon Philip, and discussed at length in his Council; but Olivares, whilst admitting the risk, concluded that, "considering the penury of your Majesty's treasury, ... the suffering to be incurred and the risk of annoyance from the Cortes would be lesser evils than the loss of the two millions (of ducats) we hope to get."[41] But though the voyage was decided upon, of one thing Olivares had quite made up his mind, namely, that the King's two brothers should not be left behind to plot at liberty the downfall of the favourite they hated. Don Carlos, left to himself and excluded from all affairs by Olivares, had fallen into a dissipated mode of life; and both he and his abler brother Fernando were on terms of intimate friendship with the Count-Duke's enemy, the Admiral of Castile and his kinsmen, especially with Don Antonio de Moscoso, who was the inseparable factotum of Don Fernando. A most interesting paper, transcribed at length by Novoa as being written at the time by Olivares to the King on the subject of the two Infantes, shows how bitter and unscrupulous the {255} minister was towards these two young Princes. The vilest suspicion is expressed as to their loyalty, and the most cynical distrust of all their actions and words. It had been decided to send Fernando to Flanders, but for various reasons he had not yet been allowed to start; and when the voyage of the King to Barcelona was decided upon, Olivares made his cowardly secret attack upon him and his brother Carlos in the document in question.[42] The nobles who are friendly to the Infantes are all represented as traitors and scoundrels; and the Princes themselves are credited not only with unworthy behaviour, but also with evil plots and designs.

"In any case," says Olivares, "they must both be separated from all their friends, and this voyage to Barcelona will offer a good opportunity for doing it without attracting public notice. Fernando," he continues, "is already kicking over the traces, and assuming airs on the strength of his going to Flanders; and the money he has command of is making him dangerous. He and Carlos are close friends, and their secret communications indicate an evil bent. Under the pretext of these Cortes in Barcelona your Majesty might get Fernando and his servants out of Madrid, saying that you wanted him to look after ecclesiastical affairs there, and the noble and university members of the Cortes, leaving him there when you return to deal with and close the assembly. Moscoso, who has a wife in Madrid and does not like travelling, would stay here, ... and if he was bold enough to disobey orders and try to join the Infante, we {256} would soon find means to upset his projects. As for Don Carlos, when the Admiral is away from him, and the Prince absent, his household will assume a very different aspect. Seeing the musters of enemies on our frontiers and the dangers threatening us on every hand, it will be a good plan to send the (Catalan) nobles to their own estates, to see what troops they can raise, giving out that Fernando is to be their leader, surrounding him with greyheads to keep him more enclosed, and even imprisoned, for it is a grave crime for him to show annoyance as he does at your Majesty's orders.... So, Sire, if we get the Admiral away from here there will be a way to prevent him from returning, and the Infante Fernando may remain in Barcelona better occupied than he is now, whilst Carlos, quieter and in better frame of mind, may stay by your Majesty's side."

[Sidenote: Philip and the Catalans]

Philip as usual accepted his mentor's recommendation. The two Infantes, fully informed by Olivares' enemies of the reason for taking them away from Madrid, had to accompany their brother to the east, the Queen remaining behind as Regent. Philip and his brothers, with a large following of the minister's kin and friends, left Madrid on 12th April 1632, the two young Princes being almost without attendants. Fernando's reduced household were sent ahead to Barcelona, and the Infante cried out aloud that this meant that he was not to return to Madrid, and that the whole journey to Catalonia had been got up solely to get him away from Court for good. The Princes, indeed, were almost in open revolt against Olivares; and {257} it was noticed that they travelled with loaded pistols at their saddle-bows, a thing never seen before. After a stay of a week in Valencia, where Cortes were convoked and swore allegiance to the little Prince Baltasar Carlos, the whole Court moved on to Barcelona, where the great struggle for money was expected, for the stout Catalans were determined now that they would make a stand against the encroachments of Olivares on their liberties. The Viceroy, the Duke of Cardona, met the King at Murviedro, and warned him that the Catalans were in a dangerous mood. They objected to vote any more money, objected to a royal Prince for a Viceroy,--it was the duty of the King himself, they said, to come to them, and remain whilst the Cortes were in session, and they would not be contented unless the King stayed at least four months with them. All along the road the King and his favourite found the people scowling, and at Tortosa they broke out in subversive cries because he only stayed a few hours in the town.

At Barcelona the King found the Cortes of Catalonia more recalcitrant than ever, opposing endless difficulties to everything proposed, and advancing all sorts of old claims with regard to ceremonial and ancient privilege, each one of which had to be discussed interminably.[43] At last the ordinary supply was voted without increase, and the Infante Fernando was accepted by the Catalans as Governor with a sufficiently ill grace. Fernando himself was furious, and protested to his brother and Olivares hotly that he was being {258} isolated in the interests of the latter, without the chance of distinction and elevation that he would have gained in Flanders. But he was at last reconciled by mingled flattery, cajolery, and appeals to duty, and remained as Governor to continue the Cortes, closely surrounded by mentors in the interests of Olivares.[44] Lerida had refused to send members to the Barcelona Cortes at all, and as Philip approached the city on his way home it was given out that he intended to punish it for its disobedience. Terrified, the city fathers came to meet the King and pray for pardon, which, only with difficulty and a complete submission, was partially accorded to them. When the Court arrived at Almadrones, two or three days' journey from Madrid, they were met by Antonio Moscoso, with an ostentatious train of followers and servants, on his way to join the Infante Fernando at Barcelona. This could never be allowed, and the King's confessor ordered Moscoso to return to Madrid at once. He appealed and wept in vain at the humiliation of such a return; but was told that the King's orders must be obeyed without reply. When he went to kiss Philip's hand, the King, immovable as a statue, drily asked, "When are you leaving?" "I must speak to the Count-Duke first, your Majesty," replied Moscoso. "You will be too late," said Philip, "for he was going to rest at once, and {259} would not awake till ten at night, in order to set out on the road from twelve to one."[45] So Moscoso was fain to turn back with a heavy heart, explaining by the way to Olivares that the Infante had sent for him, and he meant no harm. But though Olivares tried to lay the whole of the responsibility upon the King, this insult rankled deeply in the breast of the Infante Fernando, and was one more mark for vengeance scored up by the enemies of the minister. An indignant and formal complaint was made to the King by his brother, and in order to ensure its attention it was handed to Philip by his wife, much to the dismay of Olivares, who knew now that Isabel of Bourbon was the head of his foes, and that he could not dispose of her as he had done of the Infante.

[Sidenote: Death of Don Carlos]

As soon as Philip returned to Madrid, at the end of June 1632, the occasion was celebrated by another great _auto-de-fé_ in the Plaza Mayor, where the King and Queen with the Infante Carlos sat in their balcony from eight in the morning (3rd July 1632) till late in the afternoon, witnessing the indictment, the preaching of prosy sermons, and the reading of legal documents, reciting the errors and heresies of the poor wretches who stood upon the high scaffold in the midst of the square, dressed in sambenitos. The ghastly rejoicing, such as it was, soon turned to mourning. The Infante Carlos had fallen ill on the way home from Barcelona, but had partially recovered on his arrival at Madrid. The summer was the most oppressive that had been experienced for years, and the young Infante--he {260} was only twenty-five--fell ill of fever in Madrid, and died in a few days;[46] and Olivares had one less difficulty to contend with, though the amiable, unambitious young man was of himself inoffensive.

[Sidenote: France and Spain]

Nor was it long before the other Infante was removed from the path of Olivares. The old Infanta Isabel ended at last her strenuous life in 1633, and Fernando was sent by way of Italy to the States of Flanders to govern the fatal dominion for Spain once more, to Spain's ultimate undoing. Fernando was able and ambitious. From Milan he was to lead a large Spanish force to Flanders. But affairs had gone ill with the imperial cause. Gustavus Adolphus, it is true, had fallen; but in the fight at which he fell he had beaten Wallenstein, with the loss of 12,000 men on the imperialist side. On the appeal of the Emperor, Fernando turned aside, and a critical moment when the imperialists were delivering the attack he arrived before the Protestant city of Nördlingen (September 1634). His presence turned the scale, for a relieving force {261} of Swedes was just approaching, and the ensuing battle, one of the most decisive in the Thirty Years' War, was a crushing defeat to the Swedes and the Protestants. The Cardinal Infante passed on his way triumphant to his new governship, crowned by the laurels of victory and the plaudits of his countrymen. But his active intervention in the war with Spanish Government troops changed the aspect of the war. The Swedes were no longer the leaders of a federation of Protestants against a federation of Catholics. It was clear to Richelieu that unless with the whole force of France he threw himself into the fray against the house of Austria, not only Protestantism in Germany would suffer--for that indeed he cared nothing, but the vital interests of France. And so it happened that when the Cardinal Infante was entering Brussels in pompous triumph, Richelieu had already heavily subsidised the Dutch for an active renewal of their war against him; and within a few months, early in 1635, Spain herself was in the grip of a great national struggle with France, a struggle which extended as time went on from her Flanders dominions to her Italian possession, and from the Franche Comté to the sacred soil of Spain itself.

[1] See letters from Madrid to Eugene Field in the Monastery of Timoleague, etc., in Record Office, S.P. Spain 34, 1627.

[2] Scaglia to Carlisle. Record Office, S.P. Spain 34, MS., 19th January, 1628.

[3] Rubens to Carlisle. Record Office, S.P. Spain 34, MS., January 1628, etc.

[4] A good specimen of his style is seen in his reply to a letter from Scaglia early in April 1629 (Record Office, S.P. Spain 34, MS.), asking for an audience at the desire of Lord Carlisle, in order to tell Olivares how much Carlisle esteems him. "I will give this audience to your lordship very willingly to-night (writes Olivares), and it will give me most particular pleasure to talk about the Earl of Carlisle, of whom I am the most affectionate servitor, and have been so all through the worst tribulations; although when he was here I always considered him a friend of France.... The differences that have taken place between us are all owing to French intrigue."

[5] Record Office, S.P. Spain 34, MS., December 1629.

[6] Record Office, S.P. Spain 34, 10th January 1630.

[7] Cottington to Dorchester, 29th January 1630, Record Office, S.P. Spain 34, MS.

[8] Cottington to Dorchester, 29th January 1630. Record Office, S.P. Spain MS.

[9] Cottington to Dorchester, MS. Record Office, S.P. Spain 34, many letters in 1630.

[10] Cottington to Dorchester, July 1630, Record Office, S.P. Spain MS.

[11] W. Gardiner, writing to Lord Dorchester when Cottington landed at Lisbon in 1629, says: "This city has now lost all its ancient splendour since I was here seventeen years ago. It is now completely ruined. All the merchants are bankrupt, and all their commodities are gone except their diamonds, Brazil tobacco, and coarse sugar, all of which are dearer here than in Holland. There is great discontent with Castilian rule, and especially some new laws whose object is to bring them more absolutely under the King." Record Office, S.P. Spain 34, MS.

[12] In a letter sent by Abbé Scaglia to Lord Carlisle in 1628 a long document is enclosed, drawn up by the Marquis of Leganes, who was Olivares' principal instrument and a kinsman, advocating the absorption of Portugal by Spain. The evil and danger of the existing want of unity are pointed out, and the need to arouse a united national spirit is enforced. This document, supplementing those of Olivares himself quoted on an earlier page, show that the propaganda in favour of national unity was pushed persistently, and the outer realms were naturally alarmed and disturbed at the threat implied to them. Record Office, S.P. Spain 34, MS.

[13] The house and garden of Monterey occupied the centre portion of the space facing the Salon del Prado between the Calle de Alcalá and the Carrera de San Geronimo.

[14] Occupying thus the whole of the space from the Calle de Alcalá to the Carrera de San Geronimo. That on the north is now covered by the new Bank of Spain, and that on the south is still the palace of the Duke of Villahermosa, the descendant of the Duke of Maqueda, to whom it then belonged.

[15] These very fine pieces of red biscuit clay unglazed and highly scented were much prized; and it was a vicious fashion, of ladies particularly, to masticate or eat this ware.

[16] This beautiful and gifted actress, the idol of the susceptible Madrileños, was also for a wonder at that period a decent member of society. She was a member of the charitable fraternity of Nuestra Señora de la Novena, and was very devout. She died in 1656, and was buried at Barcelona in the Augustan Monastery of St. Monica, where there was a special actors' chapel. Fifty years afterwards, her body, and even the veil in which it was enveloped, were found incorrupt, and she was thenceforward considered almost a saint. Juan de Caramuel wrote of her: "She was a beautiful girl, gifted with so vehement an imagination that, to the surprise of everyone, when she was acting her colour changed in accordance with the emotions she portrayed. If the event represented were a pleasant one, her face was rosy, whilst pallor cloaked her cheeks when the play was sad and sorrowful. In this she was unique and inimitable."

[17] Less than a fortnight after this costly feast, a terrible fire, which threatened all Madrid with destruction, and demolished in the three days it lasted half of the Plaza Mayor, took place (7th July 1631). The loss and terror of the people were great; but so wedded was the capital to shows, that almost before the ashes were extinguished a great royal bull-fight in the presence of the King and Court was held in the still smoking square. During the corrida a house in the Plaza caught fire again, and many of the panic-stricken people in their efforts to escape were trampled upon and seriously injured. It is stated that Philip did not even rise from his seat, and ordered the bull-fight to proceed.

[18] MS. account reproduced in Mesonero Romanos' _Antigua Madrid_.

[19] _The Year after the Armada, and Other Historical Studies_.

[20] Egerton MSS. 329, British Museum.

[21] This was a well-known noble poet and friend of Philip's in his dramatic amusements.

[22] Philip showed his appreciation of the services of Don Juan Isasi Ydiaquez in the most flattering way, by at once appointing him governor and tutor of his legitimate son and heir, the promising little Don Baltasar Carlos, then five years old.

[23] The vast park of Madrid represents part of the grounds which ran up from the present line of the Prado to the extreme end of the present park on the east, and included the whole space from the Alcala to the Atocha. Olivares had kept his plan secret from the King as long as he could, having gradually acquired the ground without disclosing his intention. The Venetian ambassador Corner mentions in 1635 with surprise that the whole place had sprung up in two years.

[24] The only portions of the palace now remaining are the Artillery Museum, and the fine concert hall, built by Philip V., and decorated by Luca Giordiano. The ancient church of the monastery, of course, still exists.

[25] At all these festivities it was the fashion for the company to pelt each other with egg-shells filled with scent.

[26] MSS Add. 1026, British Museum.

[27] Sir Arthur Hopton's Notebook MS., British Museum, Egerton, 1820.

[28] The meaning of this is that nobles and clergy were exempt from the food excise, but all consumers of salt would have to pay the increased price. But, in fact, the excise was not remitted after all.

[29] Hopton's MS. Notebook, British Museum.

[30] _Ibid._

[31] Hopton's MS. Notebook, British Museum.

[32] Hopton's MS. Letter-book.

[33] There is an extremely curious medical report on the health and habits of Carlos in one of Hopton's letters from Madrid, in July 1632. MS. Notebook.

[34] This was indeed the crucial time in the fate of the Palatinate. In the contest of ambitions in Germany only a bold course, both towards Spain and the Empire on the part of England, would have been effectual. But poor Frederick at the Court of Gustavus promptly came to understand that whilst his English brother-in-law held aloof from the war he could expect little consideration. At this very period Charles I. was principally interested in adding to his picture gallery. Cottington, writing to Hopton, 10th November (O.S.) 1631, says: "You must tell the Count of Benavente from the King that the copie of the Venus of the Prado is now ready for him, with a picture of his Majesty, if he will give him his St. Philip for them. You must remember to send the King the painted grapes which the poore fellow hath drawn for him." Hopton's MS. Notebook.

[35] Hopton's MS. Notebook.

[36] Mary Stuart, afterwards Princess of Orange, whom it was proposed to betroth to the Prince Baltasar Carlos.

[37] Hopton's MS. Notebook, January 1632.

[38] There is in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, a draft of the royal order, petitioning those who could afford it to come to the assistance of the King with money at this juncture (January 1632).

[39] Hopton, writing at this time, says: "The King told the Cortes that if the war goes on he will have to call upon them again. Though how the country will beare it I know not, for in all the kingdom of Castile their poverty is not to be dissembled. I am informed for a certainty that the procuradores of Andalucia have told the King plainly that if the peace with England be kept they will be able to serve him, but if not they cannot do it." MS. Notebook.

[40] Hopton, writing during the session of this Cortes, 4th March 1632, gives an account of the anger of Olivares and the King at the cities that had not given their representatives full powers to vote supplies, whilst the cities themselves were very angry at the demand for 6,000,000 ducats (_i.e._ in three years), and a renewal of the excise in addition to the salt tax. "A decree is lately issued for a donation through all the realm, which is put into practice by sending gentlemen of qualitie to every man's doore and taking their almes down as lowe as foure reales." Hopton's MS. Notebook.

[41] Decision of the Council of State, 23rd March 1632. Danvila, _El Poder Civil en España_.

[42] _Memorias de Matias de Novoa_. vol. i. p. 133.

[43] They are all set forth in the documents reproduced in Danvila's _Poder Civil en España_.

[44] There were endless squabbles between the Infante Fernando and the Catalan deputies on all manner of subjects. He objected to the deputies being covered before him; they insisted upon it as their right. He forbade them to repair and strengthen the city walls; they at once employed three times as many men on it as before. But, said Hopton, writing on the subject: "He is doubtless a most sweete young Prince. All are ready to forgive him and lay all the blame on Count Oñate, who is with him." MS. Notebook.

[45] The heat was very great, and the King consequently travelled by night. Novoa.

[46] On the 29th July, Hopton wrote: "Don Carlos was sick for seventeen days with ordinary ague at first, but at the end of eight days it turned to tabardillo (spotted typhus) with convulsions. My man has come in from the palace whilst I am sealing up this, and says he is not yet dead, but cannot live two hours. All things for his funeral are prepared, and blacks taken up, and servants that are to wait on his body to ye Escorial are commanded to be in readiness so that your honour (Coke) may take it that this gallant young Prince is a dead man." Hopton's MS. Notebook. In another letter he wrote of the distress of the people at the Infante's death: "The mourning could not be more hearty for the King, and they have good reason, for he was a Prince that never offended any man willingly, but did good offices for all; being bred upp amonge them to as much perfection as they could expect." Writing an unofficial letter to Cottington on the same day, Hopton gives some extremely curious private details of the causes of the Prince's illness, which cannot be here translated. But he continues: "The poore Conde de Olivares is the scape, goat that must bear all men's faults; but he is very much afflicted, for he was very sure of this Prince's love, whatsoever the world sayeth."

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